Inside Out with Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks

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What will it take for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to thrive in the decades ahead?
Greg Prince and Ganesh Cherian join Ian and Jim for a wide-ranging conversation about two of the biggest challenges facing the modern Church: growth and retention.
Why are record numbers of convert baptisms not necessarily translating into comparable growth in active membership? Why are younger Latter-day Saints increasingly willing to walk away? And what could the Church learn from other religious traditions about creating worship that is vibrant, meaningful, inclusive—and actually worth showing up for?

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Jim’s cryptic social media post about potentially “revolutionary” Church news sparked plenty of speculation—but no, this isn’t about coffee, one-hour church, or a dramatic change in doctrine.
In this episode of Inside Out, Ian and Jim unpack what they’ve been hearing about the Church’s new Faith and Learning Center planned near the Preston England Temple—and why they believe it could represent something much bigger.
Could this be a pilot for a new approach to investing in young people, supporting higher education, opening Church resources to the broader community, and collaborating more closely with other faiths and organizations? Jim and Ian separate what’s publicly known from what they’ve heard and what they hope may be coming, while exploring the enormous potential—and possible pitfalls—of such a shift.

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In the third installment of our conversation with historian Greg Prince about the LDS temple recommend interview, we turn to two of its most consequential—and complicated—questions: the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom.
Jim, Ian, and Greg examine how the wording of these questions has changed, what those changes may reveal, and whether simple yes-or-no worthiness standards can adequately address complex questions of sexuality, morality, health, personal conscience, and religious commitment.

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This second installment of the Inside Out conversation with historian and author Greg Prince about the temple dives into the LDS temple recommend questions—what they ask, how they’ve changed, and what those changes reveal about the Church’s evolving ideas of worthiness.

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In this special Inside Out livestream, Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks sit down with Jeff Strong, author of TORN: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn From Them, for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about one of the most difficult issues facing Latter-day Saint families today.
Jeff discusses the remarkable response to TORN, the criticism of his research, and what his data suggests about why people leave the Church—and the role Church culture can play in pushing people away. Together, Jim, Ian, and Jeff explore belonging, orthodoxy, agency, leadership, safe spaces for difficult questions, and what faithful Latter-day Saints can do to better understand and love those whose relationship with the Church has changed.